Counter Offensive
by Drafonis
Summary: The last part on the "Broken Heart" trilogy. After Brian's sacrafice, X.A.N.A. is furious. He unleashes all-out war on the earth - with tragic consequences. Will the Lyoko team be able to end the war? And will Yumi and Ulrich ever get to go on a date? YxU
1. Assault Ulrich

**Counter-Offensive**

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Disclaimer: I don't own Code: Lyoko.

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A/N: This is the last part in the "Broken Heart" trilogy. If you haven't read "Broken Heart" and "Opening Moves", read those first, as you won't understand many of the details that I added to the Lyoko world.

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Assault - Ulrich

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After I saw Brian vanish off the computer screen, I took out my cell phone and dialed Jeremie's number. I saw careful not to call anyone, because my plan needed precise timing.

"Hello, Jeremie? It's Ulrich." I said, when the phone finished dialing.

"Ulrich? Is it great to hear you or what! Yumi's been worried sick!" Jeremie exclaimed. "Wait till I tell her that you're alive!"

"NO! Jeremie, don't tell Yumi. I have a plan, but I need you to listen. If Yumi knows I'm alive, the situation will be much, MUCH worse. X.A.N.A. has a plan, a dangerous one."

"What happened?"

"When I fell into the Void, a being known as Galatos contacted me, gave me more powers. However, while I was in his lair, I had a direct link with X.A.N.A. Galatos and X.A.N.A. are one and the same, but different at the same time, like two sides of the same coin."

"I see. But what's going on with X.A.N.A.?"

"He's planning to launch an all-out assault on Earth. He sees that the situation is worse; his loyal follower, Brian, the kid who attacked Odd at the dance, betrayed him, and sacrificed himself to hurt X.A.N.A. But he only hurt one-third of the enemy. The computer virus infecting Lyoko infected two enemies: X.A.N.A., and the other one. When X.A.N.A. was deleted by Brian, the two merged together. Now X.A.N.A. is stronger, and his virtual persona is faster."

"Holy… Ulrich, I've spotted some very strange activity on the Internet."

"It's him! What's the connection?"

"Currently, he's just linking with the clones. But, soon, he'll have enough power to coordinate an attack."

"Jeremie, have Yumi come to the factory. The plan's changed. The only way to win this right now is to keep X.A.N.A. from getting enough power to attack. Jeremie, if this fails…"

"I know. We won't have a choice but to unplug the computer. But let's do everything we can. We promised Aelita."

"Right. I'll wait for you; I'm at the factory. Ulrich, out."

Hanging up, I sat down on a bench, waiting for the two to come, while monitoring the computer for X.A.N.A.'s movements. In just a few minutes, I would meet a (probably angry) Yumi for the first time in about a week. I also began thinking about Brian. He seemed to have been just a plain clone… at first. But his sacrifice seemed… peculiar to me. Why did he use that particular move?

I heard the elevator open, and faint steps. Then… "Ulrich!" came Yumi's voice, as she ran into a hug. I embraced her. "I missed you."

"I know, Yumi, but now's not the time. We have a problem, as I'm sure Jeremie informed you. Also, Jeremie, I need you to revive my Lyoko avatar. I had to devirtualize myself manually." I said.

"Will do, Ulrich." Jeremie said, sitting down at the station. "Wait, this is strange… Ulrich, your avatar still has sixty life points!"

"That's impossible! I stabbed myself with my katana!" I exclaimed.

"Let's try it out. Ulrich, Yumi, head for the scanners."

"Right." Yumi and myself replied in unison, as we headed to the elevator and want down to the scanner. The room seemed more dark, more foreboding, than it did a week ago. Perhaps it was because of why we were here. A week ago we weren't facing the prospect of World War Three.

The scanners, their gold face seeming to glow in the darkness, opened, revealing the usual backdrop. I took my scanner, and Yumi took hers.

"Scanner, Yumi. Scanner, Ulrich." Jeremie's voice came on the intercom, and the scanner began emitting a white light. "Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, Ulrich." At this, I felt myself start hovering in midair. "Virtualization!" Then, a large breeze came, throwing my hair up, and I found myself in Lyoko, next to Yumi.

We were in the desert region, and Aelita joined us. Or at least, tried to. A blue beam went flying above her, and the blast sent her flying into a wall.

I looked around for the source of the attack, and spotted a huge, beetle-like monster. It seemed red, and the huge jaw seemed to be trying to bite Aelita. Instantly, I ran forward, standing over the injured Aelita, my katana drawn. "Yumi, I'll handle this." I said.

"But…" Yumi stammered out.

"Just get Aelita and run. I can handle him." I said, as I focused on the powers Galatos had given me.

"Ulrich… What's… What's happening?" Jeremie stammered out through the microphone.

"Don't worry. This is what I meant by a 'plan'." I replied, and charged forward at the beetle, which dodged my attack easily. I spun just as rapidly, and performed my Impact, hitting the beetle on the X.A.N.A. eye on it's shell. Then, I jumped back up, and the huge bug exploded. "Guess it's score one for the good guys." Then I landed on my feet, just as easily.

"Wow…" Yumi said, flabbergasted. Then she ran up and hugged me. "I'm glad you're back, Ulrich." I felt a slight burning on my face, and Yumi chuckled lightly.

"Let's just get this over with, eh, Yumi?" I asked, kissing her lightly on the cheek.

"Yes." She replied. "And then, how about a movie?"

"Um, hate to interrupt this, lovebirds, but we've got three minutes until the signal is sent!" Jeremie yelled, urgently.

"Right, right. No need to yell." I replied playfully, and then hardened, just in time to spot a huge barrage of lasers heading at us. "Everyone, get down!" At this, everyone dropped to the virtual sand, as the laser bolts flew over us, some coming so close that I felt my clothes start to get singed. Something began telling me to close my eyes, and I did so. Instantly, the virtual code of Lyoko appeared before me. I focused on the monsters attacking me, and deleted the code. Instantly, they exploded into pixels. "Well, let's go."

"One minute, guys!" Jeremie exclaimed.

Aelita took off at a run for the tower, which we had gotten near. Jeremie announced "thirty seconds" when Aelita entered the tower.

"So, Ulrich, how about that movie?" Yumi asked.

"Sure. Which one?" I asked.

"Oh, how about an action-romance?"

"Sure." That was when the white light that precedes the trip back in time swallowed us up.

Back in the real world, I wound up back in the factory. I began walking back to Kadic, carefully trying to decide what to say… And what not to say. I knew that I couldn't reveal the truth, but, on the other hand, I had to think of a convincing excuse for being away from school without permission for a week…

On the other hand, I did have a movie with Yumi to look forward to after the whole interrogation process, so things were looking up, especially if X.A.N.A. left us alone. But that's when I heard a gunshot, and knew that that would be impossible.

I looked around, and spotted a clone assaulting two kids. Now, I knew that attacking a clone that was armed with a shotgun was suicide, but there was no way I would let two innocent kids suffer for my cowardice, so I rushed the clone. It heard me coming, swung around, and fired off a wild shot at me, which shattered the streetlight behind me.

I raised my right leg to my side, pivoted on my left, and extended, delivering a powerful roundhouse to the side of the clone's head. It twisted, and fired another shot at me. This one hit my side, splattering the pavement with blood. I grabbed the clone's shotgun when it finished reloading, wrestled with it, and managed to force the clone to shoot itself in the chest. Then everything went black.

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A/N: Oh, I am evil, eh? Have Yumi and Ulrich finally plan a date, only to get Ulrich attacked by a clone. Well, injuries will be pretty much standard fare until the last three or so chapters, but none will be as serious as this one (I just HAD to have at least one life-threatening problem in the first chapter, or else I couldn't call this a story by Drafonis!) 


	2. Assault Yumi

**Counter-Offensive**

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Chapter 2

Assault - Yumi

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I was sitting at home, doing my homework. The last few days had been taxing on me, as we were attacked by clones three times. They seemed to have been probing us, however, as they broke off just when we were almost unconscious, though they apparently avoided doing any serious damage. Something was going on in Lyoko, that much I was positive of.

"Yumi, dinner's ready!" Mother yelled.

"Page 327…" I muttered to myself, closing my math textbook. It amazed me how I could be a soldier fighting a war against a supercomputer, and still have time to finish my homework. "I'm coming!" I yelled that time.

Slowly, I got up, walking to the door. Suddenly, my cell phone began to ring.

"Yumi?" I heard the phone ask. It was Jeremie.

"Yeah. What is it?" I replied.

"Come to the factory quickly. X.A.N.A.'s launched an attack. He's drawing up the clones!"

"I'll be right down." I shut my cell phone off, muttered a curse, and ran down the stairs. "Hi, mom, bye, mom!"

"Yumi! Where are you going?" Mother asked, her voice piercing and demanding.

"I just remembered that I left my French textbook in Odd's dorm. I'll call him over. It's not night yet, so he can walk about the school." I replied.

"Okay. Hurry back!"

I ran out the door, my arms beating fiercely against the air. Outside, a red light was leaving the factory into the sky. Its glow caused the city to appear in a reddish haze.

The huge clone army was slowly marching out onto the streets, carrying everything from rifles to baseball bats to telephone poles. I quickly took another route.

One clone spotted me and fired off a shot, but I was already gone. I ducked into an alley, and quickly lost him. I decided that I didn't know the city well enough, so I dialed Jeremie's phone number.

"Jeremie, how's Aelita?" I asked.

"Not good. She's taken twenty life points of damage, and is pinned behind a rock. There's some unidentified monster flanking around the rock, and I'm trying to… Aelita, to the left!" Jeremie said. "Sorry, but the monster just tried to take a pot shot. Where are you?"

"I had to duck into an alley on Tenth Street to avoid a rifle-armed clone, and I can't figure out how to get to the factory."

"Okay, take a left, and then a right. That should get you into the first. Then, just keep running parallel to the school. You should be able to find the manhole."

"Right." I hung up, and followed Jeremie's directions. Quickly, I found the school in the distance, and ran parallel. That's when I located the manhole. I quickly got on my skateboard, riding through the sewer, and reached the ladder. I climbed up, and ran on the bridge to the factory.

I swung down near the elevator and got on, heading for the control room. When the door opened, I saw…

Ulrich. I took two tentative steps, as though fearing that he would vanish if I were to approach him, and then exclaimed: "Ulrich!" I ran up to hug up. "I missed you."

"I know, but now's not the time. We have a problem, as I'm sure Jeremie's informed you. Also, Jeremie, I need you to revive my Lyoko avatar. I had to devirtualize myself manually." He said.

"Will do, Ulrich." Jeremie replied, as he sat down on his chair. "Wait, this is strange… Ulrich, your avatar still has sixty life points left!"

"That's impossible! I stabbed myself with my katana!" Ulrich exclaimed.

"Let's try it out. Ulrich, Yumi, head for the scanners." Jeremie ordered.

"Right!" Ulrich and I replied in unison, and head down the elevator into the scanner room. There were two scanners open for us… It seemed strange to be going into Lyoko under such dangerous circumstances. Then again, this was the most dangerous X.A.N.A. attack to date, and we do not know what his ends are.

I stepped into the scanner, and Ulrich did the same.

"Scanner, Yumi. Scanner, Ulrich." Jeremie's voice said over the intercom. The sides of the scanner activated. "Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, Ulrich." At this, I felt my feet lift off the ground, and I started spinning slowly. "Virtualization!"

I landed on the soft Lyoko sand in the desert region. Looking around, I spotted a blur of pink in my peripheral vision. It was Aelita running toward us. Suddenly, from a rock overlooking her, a laser blast flew at her. It struck the ground behind her, the blast sending her flying.

Ulrich immediately glanced around, and froze. I turned to follow his gave, and spotted a huge red beetle on a cliff overlooking there. It was definitely the culprit. Ulrich ran over to Aelita, his katana drawn. "Yumi, I'll handle this."

"But…" I stammered out. I could not let him get killed, not after him being missing for so long.

"Just get Aelita and run. I can handle him." He ordered, and closed his eyes, as though thinking on something deeply. The fabric of Lyoko seemed to shift slightly.

"Ulrich… What's… What's happening?" Jeremie asked. He must have notice the shift in the code surrounding Ulrich.

"Don't worry. This is what I meant by a 'plan'." Ulrich replied. Suddenly, he rushed forward, charging at the beetle, but it quickly dodged out of the way. Guess X.A.N.A. picked up some new tricks while we were holding the home front against the clones. Ulrich quickly spun out of his charge, leaping on top of the beetle-monster. He stabbed the monster's eye, and leaped off, the monster actually exploding before he landed on the ground. "Guess it's score one for the good guys."

"Wow…" I said, surprised. He had always been the power-hitter of the group, the one who would attack when we needed to eliminate crowds, but this was… Different. I ran up to him and embraced. "I'm glad you're back, Ulrich." At this, his cheeks turned a reddish tinge, and I chuckled.

"Let's just get this over with, Yumi." He said.

"And then, how about a movie?"

"Um, hate to interrupt this, lovebirds, but we've got three minutes until the signal is sent!" Jeremie yelled, urgently. Right. The mission. We had to stop X.A.N.A. from activating a signal that would cause all the clones to attack Earth.

"Right, right, now need to yell." Ulrich said, a smile on his face… But then it vanished, a hard expression. "Everyone get down!" At this, we all ducked, just in time to avoid getting blasted by a massive wall of laser fire. They began charging for another shot… And exploded. "Well, let's go."

"One minute, guys!" Jeremie yelled, fear in his voice. The tower was in front of us, and it was glowing a red that was more radiant than ever… Had Lyoko evolved, or was the signal strengthening? Things were getting urgent. Aelita took off, heading for the tower. When she reached the tower, I heard Jeremie say "thirty seconds"!

"So, Ulrich, how about that movie?" I asked, smiling slightly.

"Sure, which one?" he asked.

"How about an action-romance?"

"Sure." And then, the white light engulfed us. When it died down, I was back in my room, doing the homework I had been interrupted from doing (why couldn't the return trip have done the homework for me?).

After finishing the last paragraph of the essay we had to do for English, I decided to take a walk, hoping a certain supercomputer didn't decide to pull a second punch, putting me through the homework _again_.

I walked down the stairs, where Mother was cooking dinner.

"Mother, I'm going out for a while." I called, before going out the door.

"Okay, be back before dinner, Yumi!" she called.

"Yes, Mother!" I returned.

I walked along the street, thoughts whirling through my head. What had that thing that Ulrich did on the Blocks been? And what about the enhanced speed?

Suddenly, there was the sound of a gunshot. I broke into a run. _Please, not Ulrich… Please, don't be Ulrich…_

Sure enough, when I arrived at the scene, Ulrich lay on the ground, blood surrounding his body like some discolored waterbed. It seemed like he had been shot be a spreading shot.

Frantically, I dialed to call the police, the ambulance, anyone, fear making it hard to breath. _Please… Don't die, Ulrich… Don't die on me!_ Tears streamed down my face, making it hard to see.

"Yes, what is it?" came a voice on the other end. Good, someone who is awake!

"I want to report a shooting. My friend's on the ground with a gunshot wound!" I yelled.

"Hold on, I'll patch you through to the medical center." The voice, who I figured was a lady, replied. "I'll have an ambulance come."

There was a click, and then the voice changed. "What's wrong with your friend."

"It's my friend, Ulrich. He's been shot!" I exclaimed, tears running down my face.

"Where?"

"The stomach. It seems to have been from something larger than a handgun… His side's ripped open!"

"I'll ready the equipment at the hospital."

"Thanks." I replied, before hanging up. I propped Ulrich's head on my knee.

"Yumi…" he said weakly. "X.A.N.A… The clones…"

"Don't try to talk, Ulrich."

"Yumi… I know that…" he gasped out, as a small burst of blood left his mouth. He was in pain, this much was obvious… He coughed up some blood, which I hastily wiped on my sweater.

"The ambulance is coming, Ulrich. Hold on." His eyes closed, and he went limp. A jolt of fear coursed through me. Was he dead? "Please, Kami-sama… Don't let him die…" I muttered. The sound of sirens came in the distance; help was coming. But would it be enough? Unbidden, tears began to flow from my eyes. "ULRICH!"

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A/N: I think this is good enough for this chapter. Yes, this is a massive cliffhanger.


	3. Noticing

**Counter-Offensive**

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A/N: This chapter will focus on a character that plays an important role in the ending. He will be a "good guy", but you will probably hate him at the end more than any of the villains, even Brian during the scene where he beats up Odd.

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Chapter 3

Noticing

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The time was early morning.

"General, we have a report of a riot coming from region A3." It of my junior officers, fresh from Officer School, and believed that he had to report everything he noticed. But this was important; this was the sixth riot from that region in two days. One even ended in the hospitalization of a junior high student.

"Again? That's the sixth in two days. What's going on, a revolution?" I asked, frustrated. It'd probably add another mountain of paperwork to my already mountainous pile of paperwork. "Very well, send in riot control… And tell them to _not use lethal rounds! _I swear, if I learn that one soldier fired a lethal round, I'll have all of riot control court-martialed."

"Yes, sir!" the junior officer replied, saluting. "Oh, and, sir? I can take over if you want, I finished my paperwork."

"Thank you, soldier." I said, relieved, and got up to get a cup of coffee. I could tell that I'd need it very soon.

The riots had resulted in extreme frustration amongst the division officers. There was even talk of mutiny. Of course, I should have reported it… But I had half a mind to revolt, myself. The situation was angering me.

A second soldier - a young one, straight from Officer's School - saluted me, and started to speak. "General, riot control asks for frontline direction. Would you like to go yourself?" he asked. I thought it over a few second, and decided it couldn't hurt.

"Very well. Ready my chopper, lieutenant." I ordered.

Five minutes later, my helicopter was flying over the riot site, and I looked down at it. Flames rose, as the strange rioters exchanged shots with my soldiers. That's when I noticed - you could see the rioters' skulls.

One stray bullet pierced the window, and the pilot's head hit the controls, sending the helicopter into a wild dive. I forced the pilot out of the way and took over, performing a crash-landing that sheared off most of the copter's fuselage.

That was when something strange happened. Two kids, each wielding different weapons, jumped in front of me. One, a Japanese-looking girl, was carrying a paper fan, and the second seemed to shoot bullets from his arms. They fought the rioters. Not willing to let kids fight my battles, I whipped my own pistol and began firing at the clones. The situation seemed to be bad enough to need to use deadly force.

"Jeremie, how's Aelita?" the boy asked, as he fired a round. "I'm out of arrows."

The answer never came, but the boy nodded, as though silently acknowledging. He must have been using a telephone. "Yumi, let's go! Aelita needs us on Lyoko! She's reached the activated tower."

The girl nodded, through her fan one more time, and they both ran, leaving me alone in the middle of the battlefield… well, there were other friendly soldiers on the far end of the street, but…

A soldier ran up to me, ducking through the wall of enemy fire. I fired off three shots, and let the soldier escort me across the field to friendly territory.

The gun fire continued for a half an hour, until… Time seemed to freeze. When I woke up, I was back in headquarters, getting a cup of coffee. I had been talking to my commanding officer.

The time was early morning.

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A/N: I hope this chapter made up for my lack of updates. Next chapter is when Ulrich wakes up from getting his side blasted off.

Oh, and please, if you read this, review. I don't mind few reviews, but I need a few of them, otherwise I don't know if anyone is reading this. Not to mention that I have a lot I have to do in my spare time, and, if no one likes it, I may as well delete the entire trilogy off and give up on it.


	4. Endgame Ulrich

**Counter-Offensive**

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Chapter 4

Endgame – Ulrich

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I sighed as Mrs. Hertz droned on – for the fifth time in a row, from my perspective – about the use of trigonometry in measuring vectors. This was the fifth time this week I had to listen to this same exact lecture, as the teacher seemed to either not remember what she taught or X.A.N.A. seemed to attack.

We had been put on the defensive once again, and the war seemed to get more violent with each attack. Something would have to give, that we knew.

And that something did give.

A loud, piercing blast punctuated the teacher's lecture and smoke rose.

My cell phone began to vibrate – it was an attack.

Immediately, I rose and ran out the door, Odd and Jeremie close behind me. No one would notice our disappearance; everyone had rushed to the window to identify the source of the blast, though I felt sure that it was a car bomb driven by a clone. They had been getting more aggressive lately, now that X.A.N.A. was not limited in numbers – he had approximately a million of them, most of them slaves.

We hid behind the garden shed, and Jeremie set up a command computer. This was his newest idea – since we might need a scout to check the situation in the school, Jeremie devised a solution by which he could use the Lyoko supercomputer without leaving the school. Besides, he could just set up in the library if an attack occurred during free period, which would allow him to check the properties of anything that could be used in the attack – which may have been unnecessary, since he did seem to be a walking encyclopedia. However, a dialog box appeared on the computer.

"Hey, guys." Came Yumi's voice. Silently, I smiled, and acknowledged her presence.

"Hey, Yumi. You heard the blast, right? Jeremie's set up the command computer; Odd and I are heading to the factory." I replied.

"Yeah, I heard and saw. It's terrible – looks like a clone slammed into the dorms. X.A.N.A. probably wanted to kill us in the dorms, but we weren't there."

"Good point. Head to the factory quickly; Odd and I'll go to the factory."

"Will do, Ulrich." Yumi smiled then, one that made my heart pound.

Then I took off, Odd trailing behind me, and Jeremie now behind me, as well. He'd finished his check, unable to find anything.

The run through the forest was wild, as I had to dodge trees, bushes, everything. Sirens rang out in the distance; the police and fire department had finally arrived. Suddenly, I felt a burst of pain in the back of my neck, causing me to slow down. Simultaneously, a large sense of pain spread through my skull – it felt like it was being torn apart, though that didn't seem to be the case, as no blood was visible.

I collapsed, rolling off the side of the road into some bushes. My head looked up at the sky, and I saw Odd and Jeremie run past, oblivious to my disappearance. The shadows from the trees provided camouflage, and I felt myself weakening from the pain. There was a strong temptation to scream, but I found that I couldn't. Something was really wrong here.

The sounds seemed to get fainter with every minute, and I felt minute movements of my hands, ones that I didn't even try. Then it hit me.

I was becoming one of X.A.N.A.'s clones.

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A/N: Sorry for the short chapter and the delay, but I felt that this would be a good way to end the chapter. I think the story's winding down; there's only one final attack, and I promise it'll be real explosive (hint, hint). 


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